The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has begun showing signs of participating in the compilation of a new voters register for the conduct of the 2020 general elections by the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana.
Their desire of participating in the exercise contradicts their strong stance of opposing the compilation of a new voters register by the electoral management body.
The umbrella family has been a fierce critic of the compilation of a new voters register, insisting that the current voters roll is credible and therefore cannot be changed.
With the EC insisting of going ahead with the exercise after identifying some defects in their management system, the NDC in March, 2020, sued the election management body to that effect. The Attorney General was also cited in the case as a defendant.
They contended in their writ to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the NDC among other things demanded for a declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 45(a) of the 1992 Constitution, 2nd Defendant (EC) has the constitutional power to, and can, compile a register of voters only once, and thereafter, revise it periodically, as may be determined by law.
“Accordingly, 2nd Defendant can only revise the existing register of voters, and lacks the power to prepare a fresh register of voters, for the conduct of the December 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections”, the writ in part read.
However, the opposition party seems to have reviewed their position and appeared to be charting a new path.
A letter addressed to the Chairperson of the EC signed by the General Secretary of NDC, John Asiedu Nketiah, dated May 18, 2020, a copy of which has been sighted by this web portal, is requesting from the electoral management body some official documents to guide their next line of action.
Among the documents the NDC is requesting for are training manual for registration officials for 2020 registration exercise, training manual for political party agents for the registration exercise and other documents and forms relevant to the 2020 registration exercise.
The said letter in part read “The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has become aware of an ongoing nationwide training exercise being conducted by the Electoral Commission to prepare its staff to be deplored for the conduct of voter registration prior to the 2020 General Elections. As a major stakeholder whose agents have important functions to perform during the exercise to ensure its credibility, we are by this letter requesting the commission to supply the NDC with the above named documents and any other material that would enable the party prepare our agents adequately for same”.
